Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-04-29
THE BABY.
A Series of Letters from Marion Har-
land to These Who Are the Mothers
Of Immortal Beings
Tho Trained Nurse, Her Uses and Her
Abuses-The OdOr of Decayed
GentiIity Often SickcniDg.
BY MARION HARLAND.

BY MARION HARLAND.
| TAuthor of Common Sense in the Nursery" etc
| Copyright 1887, by the Author
She is at her worse, a great improve
ment upon Sairy Camp and Betsy Prig.
The pair possessed and prosecuted and
Frustrated US until, if we brought ou1
lives out of the ill-smelling prisons OF
which they were the turkeys, we thank
ed God and took courage for whatever
fate might have in store for us. If moth
ing else made the trained nurse
necessity the abuses of her
| predecessor forced q change upon
US. In the days which even physicians
Winked at the profession on which reStO-
ration hangs at g hundred points where
medical skill depends upon one, was in
trusted to ignorant women, always elder
Unknown to the profession as "gran-
MES" They prowled from house to
house, as occasion called them: were ar
biwary and sycophantic by turns, but
generally bore rule with hard hand, net
merely over the patients, but in the
households upon which they had swOoped.
Traditions of their COde that have come
down to this generation make one shud-
der. The inevitable dose of cOstOr oil to
the mother and sweet oil to the baby: the
ten days of Caudle, cambria tea and dry
toast to the one, the drenchingS of Catnip
and fennel seed teas to the other; the air.
less bed chamber in which Sairy swung,
like snuffy vampire, between bed and
cradle; the manifold bindings and omitted
baths we reaG and hear Of them as c tale
of the dark places of the earth and the
habitations of cruelty. They sent mary
mother and baby out Of the world with
their pOW-WOW practice of drastiCs, anO-
dvnes and starvation-those Witch-li like
crones who infested our foremother's
birth chambers!
Luckily, they were seldom summoned
in ordinary cases of illness. NeighbOrs re-
lieved guard when the domestic force was
inadequate to nurse the cOnsumptive or
fever patient. The house mother tended
Ter own sick faithfully, according to her
Iights-WhiCh were often few and dim. In
each family some one member usually de-
veloped aptness for the uursely office, and
was in great request in her community
She picked up skill as she went alOng-a
lesson mere, often gained through bitter eX-
perienCe; a casual hint there-until she
formulated q system. Now and then the
foundation gave way-a rotten pier or a
sand bank caused the structure to sag.
As, for instance, when child i'll with
measles got at cold water and drank his
fill, or q patient, sinking in the reaction
of fever, insisted upon having something
to eat before ne died, and got well on
beef ana brandy instead OF expiring from
surfeit.
From this primordial chaos and contra
diction was evolved The Trained Nurse.
Her relation to those we have sketChed is
that sustained by the regular practitioner
to the quaCk who may, and does cure &C
cssionally, by accident. Nature capriCi-
Ously siding with him.
Our nurse makes deliberate choice Of
her vocation, usually while young and
strong. 1t is not enough that she be-
lleves herself to be "called." The sever
ity of the competitive examination, the
memorable routine of study; the nOViti-
ate, during which she submits to Sights,
performs offices that would blow away as
vapOr, plans based on sentimentality
alone; the law Of command and obedience
try what manner of spirit and stuff is
in her. Practice and theory march to-
gether in her preparation. She must
know, not only how to do, but why it is
done. Should physical idiosyncracies
forbid night work or participation in IN
pleasant operations, she must stand aside
and see people with irmer nerves take
her place. During her probation, she is
held as completely at the will OF her chief
as neophyte by his superior. "Go!" means
going; to hear "Come!" is to advance.
While the graduate is on duty she re
cognizes but one commanding officer.
The physician in charge of "the case"
ranks her always. While she follows his
lead she is safe from censure, but this
general order leaves upon her the respOn
sibility of watching and guarding the pa
tieRt in his absence, and her success de
ponds largely upon WomanlY wit and true
sympathy. Cleanliness, change of cloth
ing and air, diet, temperature, knowledge
of the precise effects expected from
medicine, judgment of the character
of pulse and skin, the very expression
of the counten8nce and aspect of
the eye-thtse and scores OF other essen
tials to comfort and restoration come
within her province. The Importance OF
each and all iustifies the discipline which
has given her the ability to stand IN her
lot and fear nothing but violation of prin-
ciples. She is not even allowed the eX-
ercise of personal taste in the matter OF
costume Science DEGREES what she must
wear while at work, her baths, her alb
stinence from certain articles OF Diet
no less than the right manner of lifting
the sufferer and making the bed.
Haphazard is thrust out Of doors with
the introduction OF the trained nurse. If
she is fit for her place the patient feels at
once such confidence in her as makes the
child lie quietly in his mothers arms.
The uneasiness at the appearance of IN
familiar symptoms in the Doctors alb
sence, so often q serious obstacle to re-
covery, passes with the reflection that eye
and touch as practiced as his are near at
hand. The gentle authority regulating